Effect of Interferon-α and Combined Interferon-α with Lamivudine Treatment on Anthropometric Measurements in Children with Chronic Hepatitis B

ated in each group, TST and SST Z-scores of HBeAg-positive patients were significantly higher than those in anti-HBe positive patients in group 1 ( p < 0.05). No statistically significant differences were observed in the other Z-scores ( p > 0.05). When HBeAg-positive patients and antiHBe-positive patients were compared in group 2, TST, SST, MAC, and MAMA Z-scores were not found to be statistically different ( p > 0.05; Table 1 ). Also, no correlation A total of 43 children with chronic hepatitis B aged from 2 to 17 years were tested for anthropometric measurements such as weight, height, mid-arm circumference (MAC), mid-arm muscle area (MAMA), body mass index, triceps skin-fold thickness and subscapular skin-fold thickness (SST) every month following initiation of treatment for this condition. When the initial pretreatment anthropometric measurements of both groups (patients whom only interferon-α (IFN-α) given and patients whom combination treatment given) were compared, no statistically significant difference was observed in terms of height, weight, body mass index, MAC, SST, and MAMA Z-scores ( p > 0.05). Thirteen patients had malnutrition (30%) and 16% of them had obesity. When the association between the HBeAg-positive and anti-HBe-positive patients and the anthropometric measurements at the end of the treatment were evaluReceived: May 1, 2017 Accepted: June 5, 2017 Published online: June 17, 2017